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When any defining clause is subjoined, either may be used, as, “What, or which, man among you, having a hundred sheep, and losing one, would not leave the ninety and nine?”

The pronoun whether is equivalent to “which of the two.” It is the Teutonic word wether, bearing the same relation to wer, “who” or “which,” as either does to ein, “one,” and neither, newether, to nie or nehein, “none.”

This word, though now generally employed or considered as a conjunction, is in truth reducible to the class of words which we are now examining, and is precisely synonymous with uter, tra, trum, of the Latins. “Whether is it easier to say?”—Bible.

Here whether is truly a pronoun, and is the nominative to the following verb.

“Whether is greater, the gold or the temple?”—Ibid.

In these examples, whether is precisely the same with “which of the two.” It seems now to be giving place to the word which, as the comparative, when two things are compared, is often supplanted by the superlative. Thus we often say, when speaking of two, “which is the best,” instead of “whether is better.” The Latins almost uniformly observed the distinction:—“Uter dignior, quis dignissimus?”—Quint.